Crime & Justice 3 min read 1h ago

9/11 Mastermind Trial Set for 2028

A US military judge has set 5 June 2028 as the trial start date for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and co-defendants accused of planning the 9/11 attacks.
The date remains subject to change pending unresolved procedural rulings, including decisions on which evidence will be admissible before the military tribunal.
A US Senate report concluded that Mohammed, arrested in Pakistan in 2003 and transferred to Guantanamo in 2006, was tortured during CIA interrogations — a matter likely to bear on

A United States military judge has set 5 June 2028 as the opening date for the long-delayed trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the man widely regarded as the chief planner of the 11 September 2001 attacks, and several co-defendants. The date was established by judicial order, though authorities have acknowledged it may yet slip further, pending unresolved procedural rulings — including decisions on the admissibility of evidence.

A case more than two decades in the making

The 9/11 attacks killed approximately 3,000 people in the deadliest terrorist strike on American soil. Islamist militants hijacked four passenger aircraft: two were flown into the World Trade Centre in New York, one into the Pentagon near Washington, and a fourth crashed in Pennsylvania. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is alleged not only to have conceived and directed the operation but also to have managed its communications and financing.

Mohammed was arrested in Pakistan in 2003 and subsequently interrogated by the CIA. A report by the US Senate concluded that he was tortured during those interrogations. He was transferred to the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2006, where he has been held ever since pending a military tribunal. The proceedings have been subject to repeated delays over the intervening years. As previously reported, the case has been complicated by a series of pretrial legal disputes.

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Guantanamo's contested legacy

The Guantanamo detention camp was established under President George W. Bush following the 9/11 attacks to hold suspected Islamist militants without civilian trial. At its peak, the facility held nearly 800 detainees. Human rights organisations have long called for its closure; a small number of prisoners remain held there. The question of which evidence may be placed before the military tribunal — including material linked to Mohammed's treatment in CIA custody — is among the procedural matters still to be resolved before any trial can proceed.

If the June 2028 date holds, it will mark more than 26 years between the attacks and the start of formal legal proceedings against the man accused of orchestrating them — a delay that itself remains a source of enduring controversy.

##September11 ##KhalidSheikhMohammed ##Guantanamo

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